A child learns her native language from her mother and father, and through immersion in her native culture. This learning occurs during a formative time when her developing brain is highly receptive to acquiring the language. No one remembers learning his or her first language. It just happens.
Learning a second language is typically more difficult, however, particularly if the learner is beyond the formative years and has limited opportunity for total immersion in the new language and culture. Thus conventional language training involves teachers, classrooms, textbooks and audio/video aids, designed to teach the student the separate skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening in the target language. As the student becomes more advanced, these skills may be enhanced through study of the literature of the target language.
Students wishing to acquire communication skills in a modern language will typically concentrate on learning the patterns of conversational dialogue and then augment those studies by reading contemporary literature. However, some students may choose to explore the classical or ancient literature, and in such studies the language may differ significantly from the contemporary. Study of classical or ancient languages poses the challenge that there is little, if any, opportunity to hear the language being spoken. Nevertheless, study of the classical or ancient language is important. It offers a window into the culture of the past and gives the student a better understanding of how the contemporary language evolved.
Thus some educators believe that exposure to the classical or ancient literature can even benefit students whose primary interest is the contemporary language. In the study of English, for example, native English speaking students are introduced during high school to the Middle English texts of Chaucer (1343-1400) or to even earlier Old English texts such as Beowulf (8th-11th century). Similarly, students of contemporary Japanese may be exposed to classical Japanese texts, such as the haiku poetry of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694).
The study of a language and the literature and culture supported by that language can be a complex undertaking, for there are many aspects to a language. The spoken language comprises a system of sounds or phonology. The written language comprises a system of characters or symbols that combine according to a spelling system or orthography. The spoken and written branches of the language share a set of grammar rules that encompass many often complex aspects including syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology, dialect and semantics.